Man on the Moon: the technology of lunar exploration

2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 217-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
The Moon

The Making of the Moon

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Chambers ◽  
Jacqueline Mitton
Keyword(s):  
European Space Agency ◽  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Public ◽  
China And India ◽  
Space Agency ◽  
Lunar Prospector ◽  
Large Satellite ◽  
The 1960S

This chapter considers how the very existence of the Moon, the only large satellite in the inner solar system, is a puzzle. The Moon is sufficiently large that one would think of it as a planet if it traveled around the Sun rather than Earth. Much of what the public now knows about the Moon comes from space missions, beginning in the 1960s and early 1970s. Six American Apollo missions each landed two astronauts on the surface. Three of the Soviet Union's unmanned Luna spacecraft touched down on the surface and then returned to Earth. After a long gap, lunar exploration resumed in the 1990s, when NASA's Clementine and Lunar Prospector spacecraft went into orbit. Recently, the pace of exploration has increased again, with the European Space Agency, Japan, China, and India, as well as NASA, all sending missions to the Moon.

scholarly journals Lunar exploration: opening a window into the history and evolution of the inner Solar System

2014 ◽  
Vol 372 (2024) ◽  
pp. 20130315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian A. Crawford ◽  
Katherine H. Joy
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Moon System ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Geological Evolution ◽  
History Of ◽  
Rocky Planets

The lunar geological record contains a rich archive of the history of the inner Solar System, including information relevant to understanding the origin and evolution of the Earth–Moon system, the geological evolution of rocky planets, and our local cosmic environment. This paper provides a brief review of lunar exploration to-date and describes how future exploration initiatives will further advance our understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon, the Earth–Moon system and of the Solar System more generally. It is concluded that further advances will require the placing of new scientific instruments on, and the return of additional samples from, the lunar surface. Some of these scientific objectives can be achieved robotically, for example by in situ geochemical and geophysical measurements and through carefully targeted sample return missions. However, in the longer term, we argue that lunar science would greatly benefit from renewed human operations on the surface of the Moon, such as would be facilitated by implementing the recently proposed Global Exploration Roadmap.

Report from ILEWG Task Groups: Science, Technology, human aspects, roadmaps, socio-economics, young lunar explorers, MoonVillage, MoonMars synergies, EuroMoonMars, ArtMoonMars

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Foing ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Task Groups ◽  
Related Space ◽  
Young Professional ◽  
Human Aspects ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Space Projects

<p>ILEWG has been organising since 1994 ICEUM International Conferences on Exploration & Utilisation of the Moon with published proceedings, and where community declarations have been prepared and endorsed by community participants. ILEWG has co-organised and co-sponsored lunar sessions at EGU, COSPAR, EPSC.</p><p>ILEWG task groups include science, technology, human aspects, socio-economics, young explorers and outreach, programmatics, roadmaps and synergies with Mars exploration, MoonBase, MoonVillage, EuroMoonMars, ArtMoonMars, Young Lunar Explorers, ILEWG Young Professional Grantees.  ILEWG has also sponsored a number of activities, workshops, tasks groups and publications in collaborations with other organisations: COSPAR, space agencies, IAA, IAF, EGU</p><p>Besides the discussion forums, users can also obtain information on how to participate, as well as details on the latest news and events regarding lunar exploration, forthcoming meetings, relevant reports and documents of importance for the work of the ILEWG, summary descriptions of recent and future  lunar exploration projects (such as SMART-1, Chang'E1-5 , Selene Kaguya, Chandrayaan-1-2, LRO, LCROSS), GRAIL, ARTEMIS, international lunar exploration projects) funded by various space agencies, and basic data on the Moon itself. Activities of the related space agencies and organizations can also be found. The ILEWG Forum also hosts the Lunar Explorer's Society. http://www.lunarexplorers.net/</p><p>The International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG) is a public forum sponsored by the world's space agencies to support "international cooperation towards a world strategy for the exploration and utilization of the Moon - our natural satellite" (International Lunar Workshop, Beatenberg (CH), June 1994). The Forum is intended to serve three relevant groups:</p><ul><li>Actual members of the ILEWG, i.e. delegates and representatives of the participating Space Agencies and organizations - allowing them to discuss and possibly harmonize their draft concepts and plans in the spirit of the Beatenberg Declaration (see below).</li> <li>Team members of the relevant space projects - allowing them to coordinate their internal work according to the guidelines provided by the ILEWG Charter (see below).</li> <li>Members of the general public and of the Lunar Explorer's Society who are interested and wish to be informed on the progress of the Moon projects and possibly contribute their own ideas.</li> </ul><p>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Lunar_Exploration_Working_Group</p><p>https://moonbasealliance.com/ilewg</p><p>ILEWG ICEUM declarations (International Conference on Exploration & Utilisation of the Moon) :</p><p>https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/q=ilewg%20declarations&sort=date%20desc%2C%20bibcode%20desc&p_=0</p><p>COSPAR ICEUM13: Pasadena Lunar Declaration 2018 https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC-DPS2019/EPSC-DPS2019-874-1.pdf</p><p>Report from ILEWG and Cape Canaveral Lunar Declaration 2008 https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2009/EGU2009-13223.pdf</p>

New Economy in space: Cis-lunar economic circle and analogue simulations in China to the 2061 Horizon

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
guo linli ◽  
blanc michel ◽  
huang tieqiu ◽  
huang jiangze ◽  
yuan jianping ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Cooperation ◽  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Shaanxi Province ◽  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
Test Field ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Liquid Propellant ◽  
The Earth

<p>    The Moon is sometimes also called the "eighth continent" of the Earth. Determining how to utilize cis-lunar orbital infrastructures and lunar resources to carry out new economic activities extended to the space of the Earth-Moon system is one of the long-term goals of lunar exploration activities around the world. Future long-term human deep-space exploration missions to the Moon, on the Moon surface or using the Moon to serve farther destinations will require the utilization of lunar surface or asteroid resources to produce water, oxygen and other consumables needed to maintain human survival and to produce liquid propellant for the supply of spacecraft on the lunar surface. In complement to exploration activities, Moon tourism in cis-lunar orbit and on the lunar surface will become more and more attractive with the increase of  human spaceflight capacity and the development of commercial space activities. However, the development of a sustainable Earth-Moon ecosystem requires that we solve the following five problems:</p><p>(1)How to design alow-cost cis-lunar space transportation capacity? To find an optimal solution, one must compare direct Earth-Moon flight modes with flights based on the utilization of space stations, and identify the most economical spacecraft architectures.</p><p>(2)How to design an efficient set ofcis-lunar orbital infrastructures combining LEO space stations, Earth-Moon L1/L2 point space stations and Moon bases for commercial tourism, taking into account key issues such as energy, communications and others?</p><p>(3)Significant amounts ofliquid oxygen, water, liquid propellant and structural material will be needed for human bases, crew environmental control and life support systems, spacecraft propulsion systems, Moon surface storage and transportation systems. How to  design in-situ resources utilization (ISRU) of the Moon, including its soil, rocks and polar water ice reservoirs, to produce the needed amounts?</p><p>(4) How to simulate on the Earth surface the different components and key technologies that will enable a future long-term human residence on the Moon surface?</p><p>(5). How to accommodate the co-development of public and commercial space and foster international cooperation? How can space policies and international space law help this co-development?</p><p>    China has made rapid progress in robotic lunar exploration activities in the last 20 years, as illustrated by the recent discoveries provided by the Chang'e-4 lander on the far side of the Moon. By 2061, China will have gone into manned lunar exploration and built Moon bases. In preparation for this new phase of its contribution to space exploration, lunar surface simulation instruments have been built in Beijing, Shenzhen and other places in China. A series of achievements have been made in the field of space life sciences . An ambitious project to establish a large Moon base simulation test field, the Lunar Base Yulin (LBY) project, currently in its design phase in Yulin, Shaanxi Province in China, will allow the verification of key relevant technologies.</p><p>    By the 2061 Horizon, we believe that international cooperation and public-private partnership will be key elements to enable this vision of a new, sustainable cis-lunar space economy.</p>

scholarly journals Lunar resources

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian A. Crawford
Keyword(s):  
World Economy ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Resource Extraction ◽  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
Economic Interest ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Resource Base ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World

There is growing interest in the possibility that the resource base of the Solar System might in future be used to supplement the economic resources of our own planet. As the Earth’s closest celestial neighbour, the Moon is sure to feature prominently in these developments. In this paper I review what is currently known about economically exploitable resources on the Moon, while also stressing the need for continued lunar exploration. I find that, although it is difficult to identify any single lunar resource that will be sufficiently valuable to drive a lunar resource extraction industry on its own (notwithstanding claims sometimes made for the 3He isotope, which are found to be exaggerated), the Moon nevertheless does possess abundant raw materials that are of potential economic interest. These are relevant to a hierarchy of future applications, beginning with the use of lunar materials to facilitate human activities on the Moon itself, and progressing to the use of lunar resources to underpin a future industrial capability within the Earth-Moon system. In this way, gradually increasing access to lunar resources may help ‘bootstrap’ a space-based economy from which the world economy, and possibly also the world’s environment, will ultimately benefit.

The astrobiological case for renewed robotic and human exploration of the Moon

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.A. Crawford
Keyword(s):  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Impact Cratering ◽  
Early Atmosphere ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Human Exploration ◽  
The Impact

An ambitious programme of lunar exploration will reveal much of astrobiological interest. Examples include: (i) better characterization of the impact cratering rate in the Earth–Moon system, with implications for understanding the possible ‘impact frustration’ of the origin of life; (ii) preservation of ancient meteorites blasted off Earth, Mars and Venus, which may preserve evidence of the early surface environments of these planets, as well as constraining models of lithopanspermia; (iii) preservation of samples of the Earth's early atmosphere not otherwise available; (iv) preservation of cometary volatiles and organics in permanently shadowed polar craters, which would help elucidate the importance of these sources in ‘seeding’ the terrestrial planets with pre-biotic materials; and (v) possible preservation of extraterrestrial artefacts on the lunar surface, which may permit limits to be placed on the prevalence of technological civilizations in the Galaxy. Much of this valuable information is likely to be buried below the present surface (e.g. in palaeoregolith deposits) and will require a considerable amount of geological fieldwork to retrieve. This would be greatly facilitated by a renewed human presence on the Moon, and may be wholly impractical otherwise. In the longer term, such lunar operations would pave the way for the human exploration of Mars, which may also be expected to yield astrobiological discoveries not otherwise obtainable.

scholarly journals Special Issue on AI, Robotics, and Automation in Space

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 791-791
Author(s):  
Takashi Kubota ◽  
Kazuya Yoshida ◽  
Shinichi Kimura ◽  
Takehisa Yairi
Keyword(s):  
Space Structures ◽  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
Space Robotics ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Key Technology ◽  
Planetary Rovers ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Planet Exploration

Many missions have been launched to explore the Moon, Mars, asteroids, and comets, and many researchers are studying and developing lunar and planetary rovers for unmanned planet exploration, and further cooperative missions targeting human lunar exploration are under discussion. A key technology in these missions and orbital services is space robotics, including Al and automation. Space robotics is expected to support external vehicular activities (EVA) and internal vehicular activities (IVA), which will include constructing, repairing, and maintaining orbiting satellites and space structures.This special issue presents the updated mission results and advanced research activities of space organizations, institutes, and universities, although it does not include all. We hope that this special issue will be useful to readers as an introduction to advanced space robotics in Japan, and that more robotics and Al researchers and engineers will become interested in space robotics and participate in space missions.We thank the authors for their fine contributions and the reviewers for their generous contributions of time and effort. In closing, we also thank the Editorial Board of the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics for helping to make this issue possible.

Towards a rules-based order for the emergence of a space resources-based economy leading to a lunar renaissance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vidvuds Beldavs ◽  
Bernard Foing ◽  
Jim Crisafulli ◽  
Dennis O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Exploration And Development

<p>The International Lunar Decade (ILD) is proposed as a framework for international cooperation in lunar exploration and development from 2021-2030. ILD is inspired by the International Geophysical Year (IGY - 1957-8) when 66 countries and tens of thousands of scientists cooperated to understand planet Earth as a whole. Satellites were launched by the USSR. and the U.S. marking the dawn of the space age. Discovery of the Van Allen belts and knowledge and capabilities across many fields gained thru IGY led to the technologies that undergird the modern economy that depend on satellites for global communications, positioning and navigation, and Earth observation. IGY fostered international cooperation that has enabled global challenges like climate change to be understood and strategies framed to enable global action to mitigate climate change and other emerging global threats.</p> <p>As with IGY the ILD global initiative will be coordinated by a small secretariat established by the UN. Countries, international organizations such as COSPAR, NGOs, universities, cities and regions, and private firms will propose and manage projects with knowledge coordination thru the ILD secretariat and knowledge sharing thru numerous mechanisms many with a legacy to IGY.</p> <p>In the coming decades the ILD as a framework for development of a rules-based order can have an impact comparable to the future creating transformational impact of IGY. A rules-based order is necessary for sustainable development. A rules-based order enables effective conflict resolution. Poor conflict resolution leads to the development of weapons, fielding of militaries, hostilities and war – the most wasteful, costly and destructive human activity.</p> <p>ILD is intended to open opportunities for small and developing countries to take part in creating the space-resources economy building upon the lunar exploration activities initiated by the U.S. and larger spacefaring powers including Russia, China, ESA, India, Japan, and others that are already actively involved in lunar exploration. A rules-based order enables shared infrastructures and international financing mechanism that enable infrastructure financing and the cooperation that enables knowledge sharing and that can accelerate adoption of innovations. The ILD enables the rules-based order in outer space that opens the possibility for sustainable development for centuries to come while strengthening the international cooperation necessary to avert global catastrophe in the decade ahead. ILD provides a framework to enable a rules-based order necessary for success in meeting UN Space 2030 goals.</p> <p>The specific goal of ILD is to achieve sustainable presence on the Moon by 2030. The ILD framework will enable the development of policies for use of lunar resources as well as to govern operations on the Moon by multiple parties. The ILD offers the opportunity to advance a rules-based order to govern humankind’s expansion into the Solar System to fulfill the intent of space treaties that have been negotiated thus far thru the United Nations whose aspiration is summarized in Article I of the Outer Space Treaty:</p> <p>The exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind.</p> <p>The ILD is fully consistent with and welcomes all other lunar exploration and development initiatives including the Moon Village, the U.S. Artemis project, China's Chang'e Project, and other initiatives. The ILD provides a framework for cooperation that can boost and broaden all lunar exploration and development initiatives that do not have a military orientation.  </p>

Return to the Moon: USC LEWIS and Clark Project (Lunar Exploration With Intent to Stay)

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madhu Thangavelu ◽  
Y. Chen ◽  
A. Diaz ◽  
A. Ghivalikar ◽  
D. Handwerk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intent To Stay ◽  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Lewis And Clark
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